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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23638696">quiet motions</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catsarecutebutaliens/pseuds/Catsarecutebutaliens'>Catsarecutebutaliens</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>trauma blues [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Doctor Who (2005)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Comfort, Comfort Reading, Cuddling &amp; Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Forehead Kisses, Hair Brushing, Post-Episode: s12e10 The Timeless Children, Sleepy Cuddles, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Touch-Starved, Touch-Starved Doctor, i really tried okay, or close enough to that anyway, she may be touch averse but she is suffering and needs some hugs okay, the author also needs hugs, there is no angst in this one y'all except for like two sentences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 20:15:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>816</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23638696</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catsarecutebutaliens/pseuds/Catsarecutebutaliens</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor seeks out River after her experiences with the Master on Gallifrey.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Thirteenth Doctor/River Song</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>trauma blues [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1712221</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>93</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>quiet motions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ingerick/gifts">Ingerick</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is basically me projecting my need for human touch onto the Doctor, something I hope that is relatable in these trying times. Feel free to chat with me if you need to and enjoy the read! Stay safe and healthy.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The Doctor closed her eyes with a sigh and let her muscles loosen up as her body sank to the floor. Soft cotton fibers brushed against her hands when she placed them on the rug beneath her, unsure what to do with them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She could hear the quiet crackling of the fireplace somewhere to her right and above her, paper rustled against paper as River turned the pages of the book she was currently reading. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was a quiet afternoon, almost evening now, the first in weeks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They had been jumping from planet to planet, discovering the abstruse lava falls of Shone, the deep forests of hidden, unknown planets and had saved civilizations from being destroyed. But as exhilarating traveling with her wife was, those quiet moments were the only ones where the pain in her hearts was dampened enough for her to live with it, if just for a few hours.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Twenty-four years on Darilium hadn't been enough, no time would ever be enough, not for her, so when her skin had burned with longing and her mind had been filled with the dimming flames of her burning planet, she had decided to turn to the one person she could never bear to leave.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It had taken them a while to settle into a comfortable rhythm, to compromise between the time spent with her old self and her present one, but River had managed it as always.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her wonderful, </span>
  <em>
    <span>wonderful</span>
  </em>
  <span>wife.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was the only thing keeping her nightmares from taking the last sparks of her sanity, the only one dimming the rage seething within her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Living hurt, existence was unendurable, but River made every second she went on worthwhile.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You're thinking too loud again, sweetie," sounded her soft voice from where she was leaning against an armchair, one leg outstretched and with the Doctor's head comfortably nestled into her lap. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The fire was close enough to keep them warm in the normally cool library air, but still far enough away to not be too forcing. A log cracked open in the flames, and she flinched shortly, before nuzzling her cheek against River's thigh and allowing her fingers to slowly continue carting through her fanned out hair. A feeling like sherbet powder tingling on her tongue emerged from the middle of her scalp and drizzled down her back and arms, spreading throughout her whole body until she felt both perfectly awake and dozed off. She loved this face's hair, if only for this one reason.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Sorry 'bout that," the Doctor let out between sighs and trapped her own hands beneath her legs to keep them from fiddling with the seam of her jumper. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>River moved her book to the side so she could look at the face laying in her lap, the wrinkles around her eyes showing nothing but love and affection. She had been oh so patient with every single thing the Doctor continued to throw at her, and she was just waiting for the moment River decided it was enough.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"No need to apologize, love, just tell me what you need to quiet them down."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was no coherent stream of thoughts, more of a cluster of memories and emotions merging and shifting with every passing second. There was a constant stream of images flashing in her mind, flames and fires and ash dancing in the air; his face, beaten and violated with a kind of despair she had never seen before, ending with her, hurt and alone and just needing something to stop the rage scraping at her skin from consuming her fully.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Doctor blinked, opening her eyes long enough to catch her wife's smile, before sinking back into the all-encompassing comfort and safety of her embrace. She smelled like the cup of rosehip tea next to her and whatever laundry detergent the TARDIS used to wash their clothes, but there was another note underneath that, a sweet, almost flowery smell she had always described to a perfume of some kind, that turned out to be purely River herself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Tell me a story, please, anything."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>River brushed a strand of stray hair away from her face and leaned down to press a gentle kiss to her forehead before moving on to brush her lips against the Doctor's.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Of course. Just remember to keep on breathing, love."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So River began to read out loud, her sing-song voice softly carrying the words around the room almost like a children's lullaby, inching the Doctor closer and closer to the sleep she desperately needed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They would stay there a little longer, tucked away in their personal frozen bubble of space and time until the universe decided it was due for them to part ways indefinitely. There was no future here, no lethal libraries or piercing, repressed memories digging themselves further and further towards the surface of her mind. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just them, together, and finally at peace.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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